While Hurricane Dean threatened to devastate parts of the island, residents of Port Royal in Kingston were left with one less source of help as the communities fire station was without the presence of a single fireman.

Port Royal is officially deemed a flood prone area and as such residents were urged to evacuate, however, residents told The Gleaner that they would rather remain in close proximity to their homes and their contents.

Residents claimed that it was common practice for the firemen to desert them in the wake of disasters such as Hurricane Dean.

“Di fireman dem gone eno, dem nuh normally stay when storm a come,” said one resident.

Photo by Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer: this man was one of several residents who took over the Port Royal fire station.

They, however, confessed that there had been numerous efforts by the relevant authorities to ensure that they evacuated the community. “Is only bout eight or nine people gone a di shelter, everybody else seh dem nah leave,” one resident explained. 

“We’re safe and covered by the grace of God, leave and go where?” another resident asked.

Upon visiting the area, residents were seen occupying the fire station’s parking spaces with their personal vehicles, a move which they said was simply in the best interest of safety.

“A we lock di place, we have di key so we jus using the space fi secure some a di car dem,” said Mikey, a 20-year-old resident who was seen giving parking instructions.

A lone officer seen stationed at the Port Royal Police Station said residents were asked to leave the community and with that being the situation, they could not demand the services of the firemen.

One of the firemen who was relocated as a precautionary measure to the York Park Fire Station on Orange Street in Kingston, said they would have stayed if the decision had been left to them.

“If it was our say, to be honest quite a few of us would have stayed because Port Royal is a nice place with some nice people,” said the firefighter.

He, however, added that based on the fact that residents were warned to desert the area, it should not be such a big issue.

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Despite Jamaica being affected by at least four hurricanes in the last three years, many persons are still did not heeding evacuation warnings issued this time around.

Photo by Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer: Portmore HEART/NTA shelter in St. Catherine. This man was one of three men there at the shelter when The Gleaner arrived. He complained of being hungry.

Out of a approximately 3,000 residents in Port Royal, only 10 persons heeded the evacuation warnings and boarded one of the eleven buses sent by the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. The evacuees were mainly elderly persons.

“You ever hear nutten happen to Port Royal?” asked one resident. “Them always sensationalise Port Royal and after the hurricane nutten no happen.”

He recalled the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan where some persons evacuated and went to shelters but returned to find their homes safe and secure, while they endured harsh conditions at the shelter. They said the people were treated “badly.” “It still fresh in their memories that’s why a lot of persons not leaving,” said Rohan.

“Right now, Port Royal is on solid ground so we not going anywhere,” said Weston, one resident who remained in the flood prone community.
 
Resident of Portmore in St. Catherine, which has several vulnerable communities, resisted desperate pleas to evacuate and move to the designated shelters.

While massive preparations took place all over the island in many areas designated as centres in preparation for the effects of Hurricane Dean three willing residents of Portmore who heeded the warnings to evacuate their communities turned up at one centre to be greeted with a large empty room.

“I opened this centre from 7:30 this morning and now 1 p.m. and up until nothing is here,” said shelter manager Trevor Gayle.

He lamented the situation saying that if only three persons were there and nothing was in place for them, then what would happen when more persons came in.

However Mayor of Portmore, George Lee said that more supplied should have arrived by midday but said that authorities were guaging their response based on how many people were arriving at the shelter.

Mr. Gayle however did not agree: “If you don’t protect the little one, how are you going to deal with the masses?” he questioned.

On a visit to the Rae Town fishing beach, many persons, most fishermen and vendors were seen in their one-room dwellings. They say that they cannot abandon their belongings, which cost thousands of dollars.

George Henry, a fish vendor who has occupied one of the dwellings on the beach for the last 20 years said that he couldn’t abandon his place because someone has to stay and safeguard the items other fisherfolks who had left.

“We can’t abandon everything altogether. Someone has to give some form of oversight,” he said. However, he said that his home, at 14 Fisheries Road in Kingston, is not really safe either. He said that it experienced Hurricane Gilbert and recently Ivan but now he doesn’t feel that he is safe in that structure.

“That house pass through two hurricanes with hol heap a leakings and neither the state nor fishery do nutten fi help me still,” he said.

Mr. Lee, however, repeated the plea for a law to be enacted to ensure mandatory evacuation out of flood-prone areas like Portmore.

After the passage of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004,  the Government indicated its intention to implement a mandatory evacuation order for certain communities with the approach of a storm or hurricane.

As Jamaica’s south east coast began feeling the first effects of Hurricane Dean this morning, a small group of Jamaicans were already having a far worse experience.

Urgent calls started coming in to the mainland from a small group of men and women marooned on the Pedro Cays, more than 50 miles to the South, and facing the brunt of the assault from the category four hurricane.

Opposition Leader Bruce Golding, who received one of the calls for help, told The Gleaner that he subsequently contacted the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and was told to convey to the group the army’s permission to break into its Coast Guard building on Middle Cay (one of three that make up the Pedro Cays chain) and take shelter there.

Sean Taylor, vice-chairman of the Jamaica Fishermen’s Cooperative, said that calls started coming in from as early as nine o’clock in the morning from the marooned group.

“They started calling relatives and friends saying things were getting more difficult than they expected” he said.

An obviously upset Taylor said that this need not have happened because all persons on the cays were put on notice by the JDF a week ago to leave the cays ahead of the onset of the hurricane.

“We are always adamant that whenever the warning is posted by the officials you must heed it and make the necessary preparations. The Coast Guard commander should forcefully remove them. They should see to it that they leave” he said.

Ironically, Mr. Taylor said, some of those who remained on the cays for this hurricane also ignored similar warning to leave during the passage of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and narrowly escaped death on that occasion.

This practice of ignoring such dire warnings was a matter of great concern, said Mr. Golding.

“In the future we may need to be more forceful; we perhaps need to enact legislation to give the Coast Guard authority to lift people from the cays even when they are reluctant to leave,” he said.

It is a position that is shared by Dean Peart, the minister responsible for disaster preparation and response.

The necessary legislation to permit mandatory evacuation in such circumstances had been drafted and was now awaiting Cabinet consideration, he said.

The same challenges were being encountered in several of the most vulnerable communities along the south coast, he said, with residents refusing to leave their homes and go to designated shelters.

Responding to the self-inflicted plight of the Pedro Cays group, Mr. Peart said “This is a regular thing. Who is going to send a helicopter at this time to take them home? When you see a category five hurricane approaching you must move! They are blasted mad!” the minister said, with characteristic frankness.